Whale Rider (2002)

Posted : 3 weeks, 6 days ago at Oct 25 13:21

''My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs.'' A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.Keisha Castle-Hughes: PaikeaWhale Rider gets its namesake from the legend, a legend involving the Maori people coming to New Zealand as a result of their patriarch riding there many generations ago, from Hawaiki upon the back of a whale.After many studies of language, farming, artifacts and sailing techniques, experts seem to agree that 'Hawaiki' is in fact the Huahine Island in French Polynesia, the Society Islands, northwest of Tahiti and perhaps 3000 miles northeast of New Zealand. It has been fairly firmly established that all of the Polynesian peoples originated from Eastern ...Read more

Rating : 10/10

Posted : 2 months, 1 week ago at Sep 11 1:31

An island heritage that is already desperately trying to hold onto it's own identity, finds itself even more challenged when a little girl tries desperately to fit into it in a manner that would break one if it's fundamental "rules". For, in order to triumph, she must dispel the ages old belief that to achieve the mantle of a chieftain, one must be a male. And in the process, she ends up making both that old tradition and a pack of whales, her b#tchez.
Yay for Girl Power!






Rating : 9/10

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago at Apr 30 6:54

"When she was born, that's when things went wrong for us." Traditional rich Maori culture is preserved marvellously with Whale Rider; this captivating slice of New Zealand filmmaking. Whale Rider was a complete surprise for me. Habitually, I had mistaken the film for some propaganda that promotes the ideologies of the Maori culture. On the contrary, Whale Rider was the farthest thing from my initial anticipations. The film offers an exquisite glimpse of traditional Maori customs and traditions wrapped up in this touching, tear-jerking, moving drama. Paikea Apirana (Castle-Hughes) is born into a Maori family that comes from a long line of tribal chiefs. Her father Porourangi (Curtis) is the first born son of the chief Koro (Paratene), a direct descendant of the original leader of...Read more

Rating : 9/10

Posted : 1 year, 10 months ago at Jan 2 1:49

First of all, let me make it clear that this is not another "Free Willy" movie, as my boyfriend suggested it when we rented it. Yes, there are whales and people saving whales, sort of, but it is a movie more about people, a specific group of people: the Maoris. Set in New Zealand and the coastal village of Whangara, "Whale Rider" centers around a declining Maori tribe and the hopes of its tribe leader for a savior in the form of his new-born grandson (whom was "foreseen" by him as someone who would lead the people and turn the tribe around). The grandson, however, died in childbirth with his mother, leaving behind a twin sister and a grieving father. The girl is given the name of Pai by the father, after the legendary Paikea, the tribe's founding ancestor who, according to the legend, arri...Read more

Rating : 8/10

Posted : 2 years, 6 months ago at May 19 16:54

What a wonderful movie and a amazing peaceful soundtrack.

Rating : 8/10

Posted : 3 years, 3 months ago at Aug 25 2:00

人與動物可以心靈相通，世界萬物是一體的。